Apparatus and method for reproducing audio file

ABSTRACT

A method of reproducing an audio file includes: applying a reproducing mode established based on an attribute information; obtaining at least a part of the audio file under the established reproducing mode; and determining whether the audio file is reproducible under the established reproducing mode by checking whether the part of the audio file constructs a specific format stream corresponding to the applied reproducing mode.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation of co-pending application Ser. No.11/199,150, filed on Aug. 9, 2005, which is a Continuation ofapplication Ser. No. 09/951,210, filed on Sep. 11, 2001, now U.S. Pat.No. 7,050,376, for which priority is claimed under 35 U.S.C. § 120. Thisapplication also claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a) on patentapplication Ser. No. 54776/2000 filed in Korea on Sep. 19, 2000, PatentApplication No. 54777/2000 filed in Korea on Sep. 19, 2000, PatentApplication No. 54778/2000 filed in Korea on Sep. 19, 2000, and PatentApplication No. 58501/2000 filed in Korea on Oct. 5, 2000. The entirecontents of all of the above-identified applications are herebyincorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an optical disc player, and moreparticularly to an optical disc player and a method for reproducingthereof, which enable discriminates a kind of an inserted disc at theoptical disc player.

2. Description of the Related Art

As a compact disc player has an immense popularity among many, an audiocompact disc also has been growing to a key audio medium based on itsexcellent sound quality. In addition, since portable compact discplayers are widely supplied, everyone is able to listen to a lot ofmusic through portable compact disc players anywhere.

Meanwhile, as a double deck type audio compact disc player is nowavailable, anyone can make his own compact discs by recording his voiceor dubbing his favorite music from other compact discs, all without acomputer operation.

In addition, through the Internet, it became easier for people to listento music on a computer, where a number of music is saved in MP3 files.The MP3 means the audio compression technology of a high sound qualitystandardized in MPEG1. People usually download MP3 files or musicthrough a network such as the Internet. Accordingly, portable MP3 filedisplayers for reproducing these MP3 files or music have been widelysupplying to the markets.

Meanwhile, the study of optical disc players, which is reproducing theaudio and MP3 files or music at one player, have been activelydeveloping in the field of activating a utilization for the MP3 file ormusic.

However, the MP3 and the audio files and music have different dataformation and construction. Accordingly, the optical disc players haveto check the file formation and construction for inserted disc andperform a suitable reproducing process according to the checking resultthat of discriminating the disc kind in order to normally reproduce thefiles or music recorded onto the inserted disc by the optical discplayer.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide anoptical disc player and a method for reproducing thereof, which candiscriminate a kind of inserted disc with the audio file disc, the MP3file disc, and the general data file disc and normally performs thereproducing operation for the files or music recorded onto the inserteddisc.

To achieve the above and other objects, there is provided according toan embodiment a method of reproducing an audio file, comprising:applying a reproducing mode established based on an attributeinformation; obtaining at least a part of the audio file under theestablished reproducing mode; and determining whether the audio file isreproducible under the established reproducing mode by checking whetherthe part of the audio file constructs a specific format streamcorresponding to the applied reproducing mode.

In another aspect of the present invention, an apparatus for reproducingan audio file, as embodied, comprises: a mode establishing controllerfor establishing a reproducing mode based on an attribute information; areader for obtaining at least a part of the audio file under theestablished reproducing mode; a checking controller for determiningwhether the audio file is reproducible under the established reproducingmode by checking whether the part of the audio file constructs aspecific format stream corresponding to the applied reproducing mode.

Further scope of applicability of the present invention will becomeapparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, itshould be understood that the detailed description and specificexamples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, aregiven by way of illustration only, since various changes andmodifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will becomeapparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above objects, features and advantages of the present invention willbecome more apparent from the following detailed description when takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a construction of an optical discplayer which can reproduce an MP3 file or music according to the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating the state of discriminating a kindof an inserted disc at an optical disc player in which a method ofdiscriminating the optical disc according to the present invention isapplied;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating the state of discriminating ageneral text data and an MP3 data recorded onto an inserted disc at anoptical disc player in which a method of discriminating the optical discaccording to the present invention is applied;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating the state of reproducing an opticaldisc according to a track attribution recorded onto an inserted disc atan optical disc player in which a method of discriminating the opticaldisc according to the present invention is applied;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating the state of categorizing andreproducing tracks of an inserted disc by an attribution unit at anoptical disc player in which a method of discriminating the optical discaccording to the present invention is applied;

FIG. 6 illustrates a concept of numbering MP3 tracks of an inserted discat an optical disc player in which a method of discriminating theoptical disc according to the present invention is applied;

FIG. 7 illustrates the other concept of numbering MP3 tracks of aninserted disc at an optical disc player in which a method ofdiscriminating the optical disc according to the present invention isapplied;

FIG. 8 illustrates the state of a screen displayed on a displayingsection in an MP3 stop mode at an optical disc player in which a methodof discriminating the optical disc according to the present invention isapplied;

FIG. 9 illustrates the state of a screen displayed on a displayingsection in an MP3 play mode at an optical disc player in which a methodof discriminating the optical disc according to the present invention isapplied;

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a construction of an opticaldisc player including an MP3 reproducing means according to the presentinvention; and

FIG. 11 is a flow chart illustrating the state of reproducing an MP3file at an optical disc player including an MP3 reproducing meansaccording to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be describedwith reference to the accompanying drawings. In the followingdescription, same drawing reference numerals are used for the sameelements even in different drawings. The matters defined in thedescription such as a detailed construction and elements of a circuitare nothing but the ones provided to assist in a comprehensiveunderstanding of the invention. Thus, it is apparent that the presentinvention can be carried out without those defined matters. Also,well-known functions or constructions are not described in detail sincethey would obscure the invention in unnecessary detail.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a construction of an optical discplayer which can reproduce an MP3 file or music according to the presentinvention.

With reference to FIG. 1, the optical disc player of the presentinvention includes a disc 101 for receiving a disc; a discdiscrimination section 102 for discriminating an attribution of the fileor music recorded onto the disc inserted into the disc 101; a mi-com 103for controlling an overall operation of the optical disc player; anaudio reproducing section 104 for reproducing an audio file or musicprovided from the disc discrimination section 102; an MP3 reproducingsection 105 for reproducing an MP3 file or music provided from the discdiscrimination section 102; and an output section 106 for outputtingoutput signals provided from the audio reproducing section 104 or theMP3 reproducing section 105.

Now, a process for discriminating a kind of an inserted disc at theoptical disc player will be explained referring to the FIG. 2. FIG. 2 isa flow chart illustrating the state of discriminating the kind of aninserted disc at the optical disc player in which a method ofdiscriminating the optical disc according to the present invention isapplied.

First, the disc discrimination section 102 obtains the TOC (Table OfContent) information of the inserted disc 101 (201 step). The TOCinformation means that of a file or music attribution, a file or musicnumber, each file or music playing time, and each file or music addressrecorded onto the disc.

Meanwhile, the disc discrimination section 102 obtains the attributiveinformation of the inserted disc 101 from the obtained TOC information(202 step) after obtaining the TOC(Table Of Content) information of theinserted disc.

Here, the disc discrimination section 102 of the optical disc playerobtains the attributive information of the file or music recorded ontothe inserted disc 101 in a manner that of perceiving the attributionusing an extension of the disc file from the TOC information obtainedfrom the inserted disc 101.

For example, if the extension of the inserted disc 101 is “mp3”, thedisc discrimination section 102 discriminates the disc file as an MP3file and then the MP3 reproducing section 105 reproduces the MP3 file.If the extension of the inserted disc 101 is “wav”, the optical discplayer discriminates the disc file as an audio file and then the audioreproducing section 104 reproduces the MP3 file.

The disc discrimination section 102 discriminates a kind of the inserteddisc 101 using the obtained attributive information, and can normallyreproduce the file or music recorded onto the disc according to asuitable reproducing method (203 step).

Meanwhile, the optical disc player can not normally reproduce the fileor music if the attribution of the file or music are wrongly recordedonto the tracks in a case that the disc discrimination section 102obtains the TOC information of the inserted disc and discriminates thekind of the disc using the attributive information of the inserted discfrom the obtained TOC information.

Now, a process of reproducing the file recorded onto the disc will beexplained referring to FIG. 3 when the attribution of the file or musicis recorded by the MP3 formation. FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustratingthe state of discriminating a general text data and the MP3 datarecorded onto the inserted disc the an optical disc player in which amethod of discriminating the optical disc according to the presentinvention is applied.

First, the disc discrimination section 102 of the optical disc playerobtains the TOC (Table Of Content) information of the inserted disc 101(301 step). Subsequently, the disc discrimination section 102 obtainsthe attributive information of the file or disc recorded onto theinserted disc 101 from the obtained TOC information (302 step).

In this stage, the disc discrimination section 102 obtains a headerinformation of the file or music if the extension of the file or musicis “mp3” recorded onto the inserted disc 101 as a result of obtainingthe attributive information of the file or disc at 302 step (303 step).Here, the header information can be selectively obtained by the discdiscrimination section 102 or the MP3 reproducing section 105 dependupon a designed structure for the optical disc player.

For example, the disc discrimination section 102 can forward a commandof reproducing the file or music to the MP3 reproducing section 105 ifthe extension of the file or music is “mp3” as the result of 302 step.Accordingly, the MP3 reproducing section 105 can be constructed toobtain the header information for the forwarded file or music.

While, the optical disc player discriminates whether the headerinformation of the file or music includes a normal MP3 stream or not byusing the header information of the file or music obtained at 303 step(304 step).

At this stage, the disc discrimination section 102 not onlydiscriminates the file or music as the MP3 file or music, but also theinserted disc as the MP3 disc, if the header information of the file ormusic recorded onto the disc includes the normal MP3 stream as theresult of 304 step (305 step).

Here, the discriminating operation is performed during the reproducingtime of the other MP3 file or music, when the disc discriminationsection 102 discriminates whether the MP3 file or music is normal stateor not by using the header information of the file or music obtainedfrom the MP3 reproducing section 105.

Also, the optical disc player can be designed not to effect thereproducing operation for MP3 file or music in view of an overallreproducing conditions even if an objected file or music is an abnormalMP3 file or music even if an objected file or music is an abnormal MP3file or music, since the discrimination operation is performed duringmuch less than a second and the optical disc player skips the abnormalfile or music to a next file or music.

Meanwhile, the disc discrimination section 102 discriminates the file ormusic as the general text data file or music, if the header informationof the file or music recorded onto the disc does not include the normalMP3 stream as the result of 304 step (306 step). Accordingly, the audioreproducing section 104 or the MP3 reproducing section 105 skips theabnormal file or music and reproduces the next file or music.

According to the optical disc player of the present invention, there isprovided the advantages that of discriminating the kind of inserted discwith the audio file disc, the MP3 file disc, and the general data filedisc and normally performing the reproducing operation for the files ormusic recorded onto the inserted disc.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating the state of reproducing an opticaldisc according to a track attribution recorded onto an inserted disc atan optical disc player in which a method of discriminating the opticaldisc according to the present invention is applied.

Now, a method of reproducing the disc at the optical disc playeraccording to the present invention will be explained with reference toFIGS. 1 and 4.

First, the disc discrimination section 102 of the optical disc playerobtains the TOC information of the inserted disc 101 (401 step).Subsequently, the disc discrimination section 102 obtains the tracksrecorded onto the inserted disc 101 with an audio track, an MP3 track,and so on from the obtained TOC information at 401 step (402 step).

In this stage, the disc discrimination section 102 obtains theattribution of each track by referring the extension information of eachtrack from the obtained TOC information. For example, the discdiscrimination section 102 discriminates the object track as the audiotracks if the track extension is “wav”, and as the MP3 tracks if thetrack extension is “mp3”.

Meanwhile, the optical disc player establishes a reproducing modeaccording to the track attribution recorded onto the inserted disc 101,and reproduces the disc tracks (403 step). At this time, the opticaldisc player performs the reproducing operation according to theestablished reproducing mode and the track attribution recorded onto thedisc.

Now, the operation of reproducing the inserted disc onto the opticaldisc player will be explained for each case.

1. A case that the reproducing mode of the optical disc player isestablished in an MP3 off mode.

a1. A case of merely recording the audio tracks onto the inserted disc

-   -   If the user inputs a play key, the optical disc player        reproduces from an audio track number 1.    -   If the user inputs a random selection key, the optical disc        player selectively reproduces the audio track.    -   If the user inputs a digit(s), the optical disc player        reproduces the audio track corresponding to the corresponding        digit, or reproduces from the audio track number 1 with        displaying “input error message” if the audio track number        corresponding to the number is not exist.

b1. A case of recording both the audio and the MP3 tracks onto theinserted disc

-   -   If the user inputs the play key, the optical disc player        reproduces from an audio track number 1.    -   If the user inputs the random selection key, the optical disc        player selectively reproduces the audio track.    -   If the user inputs the digit(s), the optical disc player        reproduces the audio track corresponding to the corresponding        digit, or reproduces from the audio track number 1 with        displaying “input error message” if the audio track number        corresponding to the number is not exist.

c1. A case of recording the MP3 tracks onto the inserted disc

-   -   If the user inputs the play key, the optical disc player changes        the established reproducing mode to the MP3 on mode, and        reproduces from the MP3 track number 1.    -   If the user inputs the random selection key, the optical disc        player changes the established reproducing mode to the MP3 on        mode, and selectively reproduces the MP3 track.    -   If the user inputs the digit(s), the optical disc player changes        the established reproducing mode to the MP3 on mode, and        reproduces the MP3 track corresponding to the corresponding        digit, or reproduces from the MP3 track number 1 with displaying        “input error message” if the MP3 track number corresponding to        the number is not exist.

2. A case that the reproducing mode of the optical disc player isestablished in an MP3 on mode.

a2. A case of merely recording the audio tracks onto the inserted disc

-   -   If the user inputs the play key, the optical disc player changes        the established reproducing mode to the MP3 off mode and        reproduces from the audio track number 1.    -   If the user inputs the random selection key, the optical disc        player changes the established reproducing mode to the MP3 off        mode and selectively reproduces the audio track.    -   If the user inputs the digit(s), the optical disc player changes        the established reproducing mode to the MP3 off mode and        reproduces the audio track corresponding to the corresponding        digit, or reproduces from the audio track number 1 with        displaying “input error message” if the audio track number        corresponding to the number is not exist.

b2. A case of recording both the audio and the MP3 tracks onto theinserted disc

-   -   If the user inputs the play key, the optical disc player        reproduces from the MP3 track number 1.    -   If the user inputs the random selection key, the optical disc        player selectively reproduces the MP3 track.    -   If the user inputs the digit(s), the optical disc player        reproduces the MP3 track corresponding to the corresponding        digit, or reproduces from the MP3 track number 1 with displaying        “input error message” if the MP3 track number corresponding to        the number is not exist.

c2. A case of recording the MP3 tracks onto the inserted disc

-   -   If the user inputs the play key, the optical disc player        reproduces from the MP3 track number 1.    -   If the user inputs the random selection key, the optical disc        player selectively reproduces the MP3 track.    -   If the user inputs the digit(s), the optical disc player        reproduces the MP3 track corresponding to the corresponding        digit, or reproduces from the MP3 track number 1 with displaying        “input error message” if the MP3 track number corresponding to        the number is not exist.

Meanwhile, the user performs the reproducing operation by inputting oneof the play key, the random selection key, and the digit(s) key afterinserting the disc into the optical disc player when a command forreproducing the disc track is forwarded to the optical disc player bythe user.

Also, the user can perform the reproducing operation by inputting one ofthe play key, the random selection key, and the digit(s) key undercondition that of putting the disc on a tray of the disc at an openstate of the disc tray. In this case, the optical disc player closes thetray according to the reproducing command inputted from the user, andperforms the general reproducing operation.

Also, it is considered that the optical disc player displays a messageof non-existing the corresponding track and transits an waiting statefor waiting a user command, if a disc which is not correspond to apresent reproducing mode is inputted depend on a design of the opticaldisc player.

For example, the optical disc player displays a message of “No MP3” forthe reproducing command inputted from the user and performs the waitingstate for waiting a next command, if the current reproducing mode is theMP3 on mode and the audio track is merely recorded onto the inserteddisc.

According to the method of reproducing the optical disc player which canreproduce the audio and the MP3 tracks, there is provided the advantagesthat of discriminating the attribution information of the track recordedonto the inserted disc and normally performing the reproducing operationfor the audio and MP3 tracks recorded onto the inserted disc.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating the state of classifying andreproducing tracks of the inserted disc by the attribution unit at theoptical disc player in which the method of discriminating the opticaldisc according to the present invention is applied.

With reference to FIGS. 1 and 5, the disc discrimination section 102 ofthe optical disc player obtains the TOC information of the inserted disc101 (501 step). Subsequently, the disc discrimination section 102obtains the attribution information of tracks recorded onto the inserteddisc 101 with the audio track, the MP3 track, and so on from theobtained TOC information at 501 step (502 step).

In this stage, the disc discrimination section 102 obtains theattribution of each track by referring the extension information of eachtrack from the obtained TOC information. For example, the discdiscrimination section 102 discriminates the object track as the audiotracks if the track extension is “wav”, and as the MP3 tracks if thetrack extension is “mp3”.

Subsequently, the optical disc player categorizes the tracks by eachattribution unit using the attribution information of the each tracksobtained at 502 step and performs the numbering operation for thecategorized tracks (503 step). Thus, the optical disc player performsthe numbering operation by the audio or the MP3 tracks, if the audio andthe mP3 tracks are mixed.

At this stage, the information for the MP3 track recorded onto theinserted disc 101 can be provided with a formation of a file systemhaving a tree structure, and there are many method of numbering the MP3track recorded onto the inserted disc 101.

Now, the method of numbering the MP3 track from the file system of theMP3 track having the tree structure will be explained referring to FIGS.6 and 7.

FIG. 6 illustrates a concept of numbering MP3 tracks of the inserteddisc at an optical disc player in which the method of discriminating theoptical disc according to the present invention is applied, while FIG. 7illustrates the other concept of numbering MP3 tracks of the inserteddisc at the optical disc player in which a method of discriminating theoptical disc according to the present invention is applied.

Specially, FIG. 6 illustrates a case that of sequentially numbering theMP3 tracks according to a horizontal hierarchy of the tree structurereferring to the file system of the MP3 track recorded onto the inserteddisc 101.

In FIG. 6, the root has two sub directory folders A_dir and B_dir andtwo MP3 tracks 1.mp3 and 2.mp3. Also, the sub directory A_dir includes asub directory folder AA_dir and two MP3 tracks A1.mp3 and A2.mp3, theother sub directory B_dir includes two MP3 tracks B1.mp3 and B2.mp3.Further, the sub directory folder AA_dir includes two MP3 tracks AA1.mp3and AA2.mp3.

The file system can be classified three hierarchies such as a root(A_dir, B_dir, 1.mp3, and 2.mp3), the first hierarchy (AA_dir, A1.mp3,A2.mp3, B1.mp3, and B2.mp3) and the second hierarchy (AA1.mp3, andAA2.mp3).

Accordingly, if the MP3 tracks recorded onto the inserted disc 101 aresequentially numbered according to the horizontal hierarchy of the treestructure, the order of the MP3 tracks are followed order that 1.mp3,2.mp3, A1.mp3, A2.mp3, B1.mp3, B2.mp3, AA1.mp3, and AA2.mp3. The opticaldisc player can normally reproduce a desired track due to communize thenumbering information at both the user and the optical disc player, evenif the user inputs a command of reproducing the n-th MP3 track.

Meanwhile, FIG. 7 illustrates a case that of sequentially numbering theMP3 tracks according to a vertical hierarchy of the tree structurereferring to the file system of the MP3 track recorded onto the inserteddisc 101, and two file systems shown in FIGS. 7 and 6 have the samestructure in a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

The file system of FIG. 7 can be analyzed by the vertical hierarchy andthe result is followed order that [A_dir-AA_dir-(AA1.mp3, AA2.mp3)],[A_dir-(A1.mp3, A2.mp3)], [B_dir-(B1.mp3, B2.mp3)], and [(1.mp3,2.mp3)].

Here, the vertical hierarchy means a vertical path linked from a node ofthe tree structure to a leaf by way of each branch. Accordingly, if theMP3 tracks recorded onto the inserted disc 101 are sequentially numberedaccording to the vertical hierarchy of the tree structure, the order ofthe MP3 tracks are followed order that AA1.mp3, and AA2.mp3, A1.mp3,A2.mp3, B1.mp3, B2.mp3, 1.mp3, 2.mp3.

Also, the numbering order can be changed depend on an arrangementreference for the numbering such as an ascending or descending order inthe case that of numbering the MP3 tracks according to the horizontal orvertical hierarchy as described in FIGS. 6 and 7.

While, the optical disc displayer arranges the MP3 tracks on the basisof a specific field referring to the file system information of theobtained MP3 track and numbers according to the arranged result. Forexample, the optical disc player can arrange and number the MP3 trackson the basis of an MP3 track name, an MP3 tracks playing time, and anMP3 tracks storing time referring to the file system information of theobtained MP3 track.

Further more, the optical disc player displays the information of theMP3 tracks which is reproducing at present and recorded onto theinserted disc, if the user inputs the play key as shown in FIGS. 8 and9.

FIG. 8 illustrates the state of a screen displayed on a displayingsection in the MP3 stop mode at the optical disc player in which themethod of discriminating the optical disc according to the presentinvention is applied, and FIG. 9 illustrates the state of the screendisplayed on the displaying section in the MP3 play mode at the opticaldisc player in which the method of discriminating the optical discaccording to the present invention is applied.

With reference to FIG. 9, the optical disc player displays the playingtime of the total MP3 tracks recorded onto the disc such as “Total time[01:59:58]” on a displaying section in the MP3 stop mode, if the userinputs the play key. And if the user inputs the play key again, thenumber of the total MP3 tracks recorded onto the disc such as “MP3 TotalTrack [215]” is displayed on the displaying section.

But, the optical disc player repeatedly displays the two displayingmodes of “Total time [01:59:58]” and “MP3 Total Track [215]” on thedisplaying section, if the user inputs the play key in the MP3 stop modethat the optical disc player is not reproduced at present.

With reference to FIG. 9, the optical disc player displays the MP3 tracknumber which is reproduced at present such as “Track No. [001]” on adisplaying section in the MP3 play mode, if the user inputs the playkey.

And if the user inputs the play key again, the file or music name of theMP3 track reproduced at present such as “File Name [000000]” within 6digits on the displaying section. At this stage, the file name isdisplayed as the file name recorded onto the disc, and the characternumbers of the file name displaying onto the displaying section will bechanged depend on the digit number of the displaying section.

Also, the user inputs the play key again, a play pass time for the MP3track reproducing at present such as “Elapsed Time [01:20:30]” isdisplayed, while a play remain time for the MP3 track reproducing atpresent such as “Track Remain Time [01:40:30] is subsequently displayed,if the user inputs the play key again.

Accordingly, the optical disc player sequentially displays “Track No.[001]”, “File Name [000000]”, “Elapsed Time [01:20:30]”, and “TrackRemain Time [01:40:30], if the user inputs the play key underreproducing the MP3 track.

But, the information of the MP3 file or music that is displayed on thedisplaying section will be differently displayed for the order describedin previous according to an establishment of the optical disc player.

According to the method of reproducing the optical disc player of thepresent invention, there is provided the advantages that of classifyingand numbering the audio and the MP3 tracks recorded onto the inserteddisc, and normally performing the reproducing operation for the audioand the MP3 tracks for the user's command for reproducing.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a construction of the opticaldisc player including the MP3 reproducing means according to the presentinvention. In a preferred embodiment of the invention in FIG. 10, theoptical disc player is a double deck type disc player having two discdrivers.

With reference to FIG. 10, the optical disc player including the MP3reproducing means includes a first disc driver 11 (e.g. for the discplayer only) for receiving a disc; a second disc 12 driver (e.g. fordisc writer or player) for receiving the other disc; a Mi-com 13 (as afirst control section) for obtaining the attributive information of thetracks of each disc inserted each disc driver 11 or 12 and performing anoverall control for the optical disc player; a FPGA (Field ProgrammableGate Array) 14 (as a second control section) for receiving the MP3 trackdata from the Mi-com 13 and converting the received MP3 track data intoa decodable data, and controlling a decoding order for the converteddata; an MP3 decoder 15 for decoding the converted MP3 track dataprovided from the FPGA 14 and forwarding the decoded data to the FPGA14; a CDDA decoder 16 for receiving a CDDA track data provided from theMi-com 13, and decoding the CDDA track data; a digital to analogconverter 17 for converting the converted MP3 track data provided fromthe FPGA 14 into an analog data; and an output section 18 for outputtingthe converted analog data provided from the digital to analog converter17.

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the Mi-com 13 isused as the first control section and the FPGA 14 is used as the secondcontrol section designed using the logical operation by a systemdesigner, but it will be understood by those skilled in the art thatvarious changes in form.

Now, the operation of the optical disc player including the MP3reproducing means according to the present invention will be explainedwith FIG. 11.

FIG. 11 is a flow chart illustrating the state of reproducing the MP3file at the optical disc player including the MP3 reproducing meansaccording to the present invention.

With reference to FIGS. 10 and 11, the Mi-com 14 obtains the attributioninformation of the track recorded onto the inserted disc (1101 step).

Here, the Mi-com 13 obtains the attribution information using the trackextension information recorded onto the disc from the TOC informationobtained from the inserted disc.

For example, the optical disc player discriminates the object track asthe audio tracks if the track extension is “wav”, and as the MP3 tracksif the track extension is “mp3”.

In FIG. 10, each disc driver 11 or 12 has the Mi-com 13 to control eachinserted disc into two disc drivers 11 and 12, respectively.

Next, the optical disc player reads the MP3 track data recorded onto theinserted disc under reproducing the MP3 track (1102 step). At this time,the CDDA decoder 16 could not decode the MP3 track data because the dataformations of the MP3 track and CDDA track are different each other.

Accordingly, the FPGA 14 converts the MP3 track data into the decodabledata, and forwards the decoded data to the MP3 decoder 15 (1103 step).

At this time, the FPGA 14 can determine a priority for forwarding theconverted data to the MP3 decoder 15 according to an originating driverfrom the first or second driver 11 or 12 when the converted data isforwarded to the MP3 decoder 15.

Subsequently, the MP3 decoder 15 decodes the converted data of the MP3track provided from the FPGA 14 and forwards the decoded signal to theFPGA 14 again (1104 step).

It is desirable that the FPGA 14 includes a first and a second slaveFPGAs for converting the MP3 track data recorded onto the disc insertedinto the first and the second disc drivers 11 and 12 into decodabledata, and a master PFGA for controlling the decoding order for theconverted signal of the first and the second slave FPGAs.

Meanwhile, it can be designed the optical disc player having newfunctions that the master FPGA can include a function of converting theMP3 track data, recorded onto the disc inserted into the first discdriver 11, into the decodable data and a separated slave FPGA include afunction of converting the MP3 track data, recorded onto the discinserted into the second disc driver 12, into the decodable data.

In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the disc drive isapplied with the double deck having two disc drivers. But, each discdriver can have the slave FPGA, respectively, if many disc drivers areapplied into the optical disc player.

Meanwhile, the FPGA 14 forwards to the decoded MP3 track signal to theanalog to digital converter 17. The analog to digital converter 17converts the decoded MP3 track signal into the analog signal and outputsthrough the output section 18 to perform the reproducing operation forthe MP3 track (1105 step).

According to the optical disc player of the present invention, there isprovided the advantages that of obtaining the track attribution recordedonto the inserted disc, and normally performing the reproducingoperation for the MP3 track the disc inserted into the plurality of discdrivers using one MP3 decoder.

Also, the manufacturing cost of the optical disc player can be reducedby reproducing the MP3 track recorded onto the disc inserted into theplurality of disc drivers using only one MP3 decoder.

While the invention has been shown and described with reference tocertain preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by thoseskilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be madetherein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention asdefined by the appended claims.

1. A method of reproducing an audio file, comprising: applying areproducing mode established based on an attribute information;obtaining at least a part of the audio file under the establishedreproducing mode; and determining whether the audio file is reproducibleunder the established reproducing mode by checking whether the part ofthe audio file constructs a specific format stream corresponding to theapplied reproducing mode.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein theattribute information includes an extension information of the audiofile separated from but associated with audio data of the audio file. 3.The method of claim 1, wherein the reproducing mode is a mode fordecoding the audio file.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprisingautomatically changing the reproducing mode into another reproducingmode if the audio file is not reproducible under the establishedreproducing mode.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the part of audiofile is a part of a header in the audio file.
 6. The method of claim 1,further comprising skipping the audio file if the audio file is notreproducible under the established reproducing mode.
 7. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising controlling for continuously reproducingaudio files reproducible under the established reproducing mode.
 8. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising controlling for selectivelyreproducing audio files reproducible under the established reproducingmode.
 9. The method of claim 1, further comprising displayinginformation including at least title information of a current reproducedaudio file.
 10. An apparatus for reproducing an audio file, comprising:a mode establishing controller for establishing a reproducing mode basedon an attribute information; a reader for obtaining at least a part ofthe audio file under the established reproducing mode; and a checkingcontroller for determining whether the audio file is reproducible underthe established reproducing mode by checking whether the part of theaudio file constructs a specific format stream corresponding to theapplied reproducing mode.
 11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein theattribute information includes an extension information of the audiofile separated from but associated with audio data of the audio file.12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the reproducing mode is a modefor decoding the audio file.
 13. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein themode establishing controller automatically changes the reproducing modeinto another reproducing mode if the audio file is not reproducibleunder the established reproducing mode.
 14. The apparatus of claim 10,wherein the part of audio file is a part of a header in the audio file.15. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the apparatus skips the audiofile if the audio file is not reproducible under the establishedreproducing mode.
 16. The apparatus of claim 10, further comprising areproducing controller for controlling continuously reproducing audiofiles reproducible under the established reproducing mode.
 17. Theapparatus of claim 10, further comprising a reproducing controller forcontrolling selectively reproducing audio files reproducible under theestablished reproducing mode.
 18. The apparatus of claim 10, furthercomprising a display for displaying information including at least titleinformation of a current reproduced audio file.